Sue Grafton. ‘D’ is for Deadbeat (1987)

     Sue Grafton. ‘D’ is for Deadbeat (1987) A client wants Kinsey to deliver a check, but stiffs her for the fee, and then turns up dead. He had been put away for vehicular manslaughter, having killed five people while driving drunk. Kinsey suspects murder, and when the dead drunk’s daughter hires her to investigate the circumstances of her father’s death, she soon uncovers enough evidence to confirm the suspicion. The case unfolds with the usual twists and turns and secondary murders, but with less edge than the previously narrated ones. Grafton also eschews the near-death confrontation with the murderer, which was getting to be rather too formulaic for my taste. She reveals a talent for characterising even the walk-on parts, and has been allowed to leave in the mood-setting descriptions of weather and scene that her editors truncated in previous books. This combination makes for a more satisfying read than the earlier ones, despite its lack of tension. **½ (2007)

Scott Adams. The Dilbert Principle (1996)

 

Scott Adams. The Dilbert Principle (1996), which is, that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the one place where they can do the least damage, management. Adam’s  analysis of what ails the modern bureaucracy, public or private, is accurate. The net effect is therefore quite depressing. The main difference between public and private money wasters is that the former are called to account, since the (privately owned) media love to show up government’s sins. But they downplay or ignore the same events when perpetrated by some privately paid idiot. But there’s only one wallet: We pay for all money-wasting mistakes and thefts, public and private, one way or another. (That’s my principle).
     Management is a necessary evil; it’s a direct result of the size of the enterprise. The larger an organisation, the more effort it expends on managing itself. (That’s my principle, too). Hence the largest enterprises, governments and multi-national corporations, suffer from the same inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and inertia.
     Then there is the inefficiency of the market, which responds to people’s desires rather than to their needs. The reason is of course that we, as Adams points out, are all idiots. I wonder if he’s aware of the Greek derivation of the word. In ancient Greece, an idiot was a man focussed on his private concerns instead of participating in public life. We now live in a culture that not only thinks this is an OK attitude, which would be bad enough, but believes that self-centredness be the essence of a free, democratic society, which is not only absurd but appalling, and in the long run destructive.
     I enjoyed the book for its wit, its pithy style (Adams is a natural aphorist), and for its hapless central character, Dilbert. But that pleasure's a high price to pay for a depressing insight. *** (2007)

Update 2013: After serving on the Blind River District Health Centre Board for several years, I’m convinced that bureaucracy is a side effect of size. Smaller organisations are more effective, and therefore more efficient, because most management can be done in ad-hoc meetings face to face, and because the teams are small enough to be able to change as needed very quickly. Also, everyone can have a pretty good overview of the whole operation. Size is wasteful, but it feeds egos.

Edited 2023-04-29

Robin Butterell. Miniature Railways

     Robin Butterell. Miniature Railways (n.d., between 1964 and 1967) Butterell has compiled as complete a listing as he could of all miniature railways open to the public at the time of writing. Many of the lines were privately owned and no doubt disappeared when their owners moved or died. The pictures are well done. He includes a map locating the lines in relation to major cities, but more detailed maps would have helped. An interesting record of what was. I wonder how many copies still exist, as such reference works are rarely kept once their information gets too much out of date. ** (2007)

John H Clarke on guitar

John H. Clarke plays guitar, acoustic and amped. Great stuff. Visit his website or his YouTube channel. His own compositions are strongly influenced by the Spanish music he plays. Recommended.

Centrifugal Brain Research

Ever wonder who comes up with those crazy amusement park rides? Well, wonder no more. They are of an experiment in neurology. Purpose: to explore the effects of gravity on the brain. The rides provide variable acceleration, and everybody knows that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity proved that acceleration and gravity are the same. So the next time you ride one of those groovy monsters, you're not only scaring the hell out of yourself, you're also contributing to science. Be happy!

Death Star destruction was an inside job. Really!

The destruction of the Death Star was an inside job, part of a plot to reinstate the Skywalker family on the Imperial Throne. See this this video proof. Pretty convincing, eh?

Bill Watterson. The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book (1989)

     Bill Watterson. The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book (1989) A collection of full colour Sunday comics. Watterson uses colour as subtly and skilfully as he uses line. A wonderful commentary on childhood, adulthood, Life, the Universe, and Everything. 42! **** (2007)