Monday, May 28, 2012

Types of capitalism

Steven Pearlstein's article on capitalism highlights the following forms:
  • robber barons
  • corporate (managerial) capitalism
  • state capitalism
  • entrepreneurial capitalism
  • worker capitalism
  • shareholder capitalism
  • financial capitalism

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Joy

A meditation on joy by Daniel J. Heisey, with references to the "relatively obscure Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI, Gaudete in Domino (1975)." Heisey concludes
we do well to ponder the joy of doing one’s duty, whether a gold star is in the offing; the demanding joy of sacrifice, whether anyone notices; or the austere joy of a job well done, simply because anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Manufacturing zippers

Article about YKK, the "mysterious" Japanese company that dominates the zipper market. Their zippers are much better but only slightly more expensive. (This also appeared in The Washington Post.)

Friday, May 04, 2012

Academic busyness

First Thoughts post about how universities and colleges are very busy saving the world:
We must recommit to “citizenship” as a foundation of the academy and model citizenship by addressing the real problems of our state, national and global communities.