QR code restaurant menus are one more example of capitalism protecting the bottom line by making the customer experience worse. — I have officially reached grumpy old age. It wasn’t in 2019, when I found my first gray hair. It wasn’t in 2022, when doctors started signing me up for tests ending in -ogram or -oscopy. It was yesterday, when I found myself kvetching with several friends about how QR codes…

American musicals usually introduce the villain with an “I Am” song. But what happens when the villain is structural? — Most American musicals identify the hero and the villain through two distinct types of songs: The “I Want” song and the “I Am” song, respectively. Identifying the hero and villain by their respective songs is relatively easy when both hero and villain are individual characters. Yet many stories focus on…

A common theme among the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) value-based programs is reduction or lack. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) measures value by readmissions that don’t occur. The Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC) reduction program measures value by hospital-acquired conditions that never set in. And so on. …

Don’t tell mine. — Gladioli, aka “sword lilies,” are delightfully showy bulb plants that take over my garden and wow my neighbors every late summer and fall. Despite the name, they’re more closely related to irises than lilies. My parents planted mine here about fifteen years ago, and they’ve been going strong ever since. …

But not for the reasons you think. — About a year ago, this tweet happened: (An embedded tweet from @TaschaLabs, reading “If you make a NFT of a real diamond, and the diamond itself gets destroyed in a fire tomorrow, you still have the same asset. Because the token still exists and is in limited supply just…

Music theory doesn’t prohibit anything to composers…for better or worse. — One of the most common questions I get from the composition-curious is “I want to do [insert melody, chord progression, etc. here], does music theory allow that?” The short answer is always Yes. Music theory isn’t prescriptive. It doesn’t tell you what you can and can’t do. Music theory is…

There are a lot of books in the Book. Here’s how to pick your starting point. — “I’ve never read the Bible before. Where should I start?” Most people start at the beginning — literally. But cracking the Bible at “In the beginning….” isn’t the only way to read it. Indeed, it might not even be the best way. The Bible isn’t exactly one book. Rather, it’s…

The Lost Generation has much to teach us about navigating the current century. — Thanks to odd scheduling issues and particular professors’ pet projects, I spent more time reading Modernist authors in college than I liked. I didn’t grasp what made Modernist authors “modernist” at the time. I learned how to parrot back phrases like “rejected traditional norms” in order to past tests. But…

Punishment and reward teach people how to weigh benefits and risks — but nothing about why their behavior matters. Here’s a conversation we’re not ready to have: Punishments do not change behavior. Punishments only change the costs of behavior. For example: Say that your older child is teasing, tormenting, bullying…