http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/

Then, Jai Thai for Thai and Phó Tai for Phó, Caffe Vita and Vivacé... drop by Elysium for a pint of Dædelus on a Nitrogen mix... Poco for some Columbia Valley wines... then go take in whatever's playing at the Pyramid at midnight...

Or, we could just get some three-buck-Chuck (I'm half-block from Trader Joe's - and, yeah, it's three here) and sit on my porch and chat

Come to Seattle for your next vacation, and we can just hang out

{Not that we'll ever really meet or anything like that. It's a nice thought, though.}

To someone else about Repair Techs who say "throw it out and get a new one": that was me (and countless other Techs). Most of the time, that was (reluctantly) the best advice. Once, there was this Mitsubishi VCR that was built like a tank. The little daughter had jammed her Popsicle stick into it and derailed a loading arm into the head drum. It was so refreshing to tell the customer it was worth the hundred bucks to repair it. {It WAS a top-of-the-line machine. I logged my labour at only an hour to keep it under my estimate. I really wanted to repair that thing; it was so well built.}

*sigh* It was the exception

Yes, I know all about supply and demand, planned obsolescence (first espoused in the 30s), and 'the paradox of thrift'. {It took me years to score my BS (heh); I kept taking courses I didn't need and changing Majors.} There's just something deep down that didn't want to throw out a good machine. I'm just reluctant, I guess, to totally go along with the frenzy

It helps to be poor, too, I guess - and to have grown up on a farm in Michigan - despite my West Coast Hipster Metrosexual Busdriver lifestyle now

I forgot to add, earlier, that (if you're like me) you could also take those street Musicians home and jam - play WITH them. I think we've got our Drummer tapped. He's effin' good

*.^)/

While I have only read a fraction of the letters posted on Stephanie Zacharek's review, they certainly tell an interesting story. Some people completely missed the point of the book and the review, with at least one quibbling about the headline. (Note to complainer: the title is not sensationalistic. The underlying logic of Ikea is as bad as Wal-Mart's.) This is testimony to the pervasiveness of big box/cheaper is better/everything's disposable ethic that includes the discounting of the notion of truth - politicians lie to us, get caught, and the mainstream media, two major parties, and a lot of the electorate collectively yawn.

A comment on two items in the review. One, why does Ikea name its products? I suspect it's because a name confers some meaning upon what is otherwise a faceless, cheaply made product. It provides a superficial humanity to the product, making up in a superficial way for the cheapening of human labor and its dignity (which, for those who missed this point, is the essence of the book and the review). I have bought and used Ikea products, by the way, but since I'm sensitive to formaldehyde fumes, have had to be careful about what I buy from them since they sell virtually nothing made of solid wood. (Have you noticed how Ikea smells, incidentally? The formaldehyde fumes pervade the place.)

Two, Zacharek points out that Shell offers no solution. For Shell to do that would mean that she would have to have identified this as a product of a) imperialism, and b) globalization/neoliberalism. The solution would involve revolution.

ARE being revolutionary - quietly. I used the word 'refusenik' earlier. It can have a couple of different meanings, but I meant it in the sense of someone not being entirely co-operative with 'the way of things' (as a Klingon character once spake)

As I said to Juliebird, she is not responsible for the big mess - except insofar as she feeds into it by her action. Be cognisant of your footprint. Take that as far as you will

I try not to step on spiders, but I will hurt you if you threaten one of my kids. {I'm an inner city Schoolbus Driver; my kids have been threatened by other students. They stop their threats because they don't want to test my theory.}

I see my job as a consumer in analogy to my job as a Schoolbus Driver. I buy new stuff - but never mindlessly (in the words of someone here). Yes, it takes a revolution. Circumspicé. Look about you. Some here couldn't care less, some draw the line at IKEA, Betzee and I are going for a pint of local brew up the block after we cruise Value Village. I have friends who live off the grid and grow their own food and grow their own clothes (from sheep to fleece to yarn - really). I can't go that far, but it doesn't mean I'm sheeple

Go ahead and bitch-slap us with your letter, too. {We might even enjoy that sort of thing.} But, be wary of slapping me (unless you enjoy being slapped back)

{I like what you said, btw.}