“Any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors.”
—Max Delbruck, German scientist, born September 4, 1906
Paging Horatio Alger
We had a very spirited discussion at Tuesday’s Northampton DELA (it didn’t quite come to blows) about work-life balance, the alienation of “consumers” from the essential human virtues of work, and what’s wrong with these kids today. You should have been there.
Last time, Jeff Conn and Rick Feldman took a stroll down memory lane, extolling their boyhood business experiences with paper routes to the point where I’ve been considering getting one (in my copious spare time). The paper route appears to have been the making of both of these gentlemen. Typically, Rick’s approach was cool-headed, analytical and systematic; with a keen eye to profit and ROI. Jeff, of course, had more of a romantic, picaresque adventure. Classic DELA.
Gaudeamus Horse Manure
The “greed is good” business culture we’ve embraced in the U.S. since the 1980s has destroyed American higher education. Among other things. If we survive the next few decades, our grandchildren will look back on us and ask: “What were they thinking?”
“…virtually every aspect of the higher-ed dream has been colonized by monopolies, cartels, and other unrestrained predators—that the charmingly naive American student is in fact a cash cow, and everyone has got a scheme for slicing off a porterhouse or two….”
In Vino #westernma
Traditional farming is not going to make it in Western Massachusetts. The options for are elaborate federal support programs (why isn’t that socialism, by the way?) or creative exploitation of traditional and new lines of business. Heritage vegetables, grass-fed and free-range animals, and local cheeses are being tried by farmers in our area, with encouraging results.
Why not wine? I’ve never tried any of the wines written about in this article from Businesswest, but I’m sure going to. I’ve had very fine wines from New York State; and even from Ontario. I plan to visit the wineries and find out what I and InCommN can do to help them to keep on with the experiment.