While the Task Is Young
A new task contains more information than it looks like it does. We still remember the conversation, we understand the context, we know where the materials are, and we can…
Insure the unbearable
Insurance is especially useful where an event is unlikely but its consequences cannot be paid for calmly. A house fire, heavy liability towards a third party or large medical bills…
The Information Diet
News, television and social networks do not contain “nothing important at all”. Through them people learn about wars, laws, epidemics, work, culture and the lives of their friends. The problem…
Do Not Educate Strangers
Everyday morality demands that you answer rudeness so that the offender does not “get used to it.” That turns a chance encounter into an educational project for which nobody issued…
The size of the container
Work knows how to fill the time allotted to it. Cyril Northcote Parkinson published his formula about work expanding to fill the time available for it in 1955 as a…
Fraud Without Shame
The public stereotype explains fraud by the victim’s greed and stupidity. In fact scammers use fear, love, urgency, authority and the wish to help — qualities that are not vices…